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Gov. Corbett Stands by Lawsuit Against NCAA

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Gov. Tom Corbett speaks out regarding his lawsuit against the NCAA over PSU sanctions.

Updated at 10:50 PM EDT on Monday, Feb 25, 2013

In a court document filed late today, Gov. Tom Corbett defended his antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. The governor argued that the NCAA is trying to use the lawsuit to combat public backlash it's recieved about Penn State's penalties in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Corbett said the NCAA made a factual error when it said the penalties were voted on by the university's trustees, and therefore the judge should not grant the organization's request to dismiss the case.

Corbett, who as governor is a trustee, said the NCAA's motion to dismiss the lawsuit “appears to have been written more to advance the NCAA's broader agenda, and to combat the recent groundswell of public criticism against the embattled organization, than to raise legal issues appropriate to a motion to dismiss.''

"The NCAA wrongly claims that its arbitrary decimation of the PSU football program is no different than its enforcement of rules regulating player eligibility or uniforms, which do enhance collegiate competition, although PSU was not found to have violated a single NCAA rule and the NCAA's own president insisted that the consent decree was not an enforcement action,'' Corbett's lawyers wrote.

The NCAA has said the penalties are unrelated to regulation of economic activity so antitrust law doesn't apply.

Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator at the college football powerhouse, was convicted last summer of sexually abusing several boys, some on campus. He is serving a 30-to 60-year state prison sentence. He is appealing and maintains his innocence.